Teen Charged With Murder After Drug Robbery Leaves One Dead, Another Paralyzed: Police

Gunmen shot at two men and killed a nineteen-year-old in a vacant house in the Carondelet neighborhood last week as a drug deal turned into a robbery, according to St. Louis police.

On Friday the Circuit Attorney's Office filed a string of charges against Samuel Vazquez-Gonzales, eighteen, of the 5500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. He faces warrants for first-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, first-degree attempted robbery, two counts of first-degree robbery and six counts of armed criminal action. He is being held without bond.

Police say Vazquez-Gonzales fatally shot Brandon Gonzalez, nineteen, of the 1900 block of Donnell Drive in Arnold, in the chest and neck around 1:45 a.m. in a vacant house in the 7300 block of Vermont Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Vazquez-Gonzales and four other unknown suspects also shot a 21-year-old man in the chest and neck. Police tell the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the victim may be paralyzed.

A third victim, nineteen, was not injured and told police the suspects fired at the victims as a drug deal devolved into a robbery. The robbers took car keys, cash and a cell phone, according to the P-D.

Officers responded to a "shooting" at a vacant house in the above area and upon arrival, located the victims. Victim #1 was suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest and neck and was conveyed to a hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Victim #2 was suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest and neck and was conveyed to a hospital where he listed in serious/stable condition. Victim #3, who was not injured, reported the victims had responded to the vacant house and became involved in a narcotics transaction, which developed into a robbery, when the suspects began firing shots at the victims. The investigation is ongoing.